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Zach Johnson using the GolfLogix app. (Image credit: GolfLogix)

As the U.S. Open concludes on Sunday, thousands of amateur golfers will watch the pros to see how ‘Lefty’ and other top players handle what’s proven a baffling course at Merion Golf Club. But when it comes to technology that can help them play, the amateurs may have an advantage on the pros.

That’s because amateurs have access to an increasing menu of GPS app options that can tell you exactly how far it is to clear that bunker and how each round compares to your track record in accuracy and distance. That can speed up play and make amateurs looks smarter with decisions they make on the course, but the pros still rely on a human computer for their stats—their caddies.

Pro golfer Zach Johnson uses one such app, GolfLogix, when he’s practicing without his caddie Damon Green. Johnson prefers the app to laser finders and low-tech course markers when Green isn’t there, but notes that at the pro level, much of the information offered by such apps can be approximated by a caddie's years of experience and trust. “I’m a player who believes in the dialogue I have with my caddie, to confer and ultimately provide reinforcement to commit and trust each shot,” Johnson wrote to FORBES. “Damon and I have become so comfortable over nine years and developed routines that I wouldn’t want to lose that.”

The PGA Tour has offered advanced stats on golfers’ performance full-time through a system called ShotLink since 2003. Broadcasters and fans expect a high level of detail now while they play. But a pro like Johnson will wait until the end of the year to really wade into his performance data to make a plan for the next season. “Otherwise, it can be too much to understand and utilize and turn into a negative if we can't distill it into something we can use to improve.”

Amateur players don’t have an experienced caddie like Green to help them on the course, but they have a wide range of GPS apps now to make up for it. GolfLogix was recently #1 in the App Store for free sports apps, the company says; it is seventh most popular and the second-highest grossing sports app after Major League Baseball’s At Bat app as of Sunday; another free option, PGA Tour Caddie, is in the top five (Update: A commenter has noted that while this app qualifies as free for the App Store, it may use more of a free-trial mechanism to get you to pay).

Within paid sports apps, the most popular right now is SkyDroid, a $1.99 golf GPS app. Golfshot, a fuller experience with 40,000 mapped courses and statistical tracking for a flat rate of $30, is second most popular, with three more golf apps in the top ten.

Those rankings would suggest that a lot of amateur players are using GPS to improve their game, and GolfLogix CEO Scott Lambrecht says the typical player will range in handicap from a 20 to a 10, at which point some of the features may give way to experience. Among the more popular features for GolfLogix is its scorekeeping; the app also comes with access to the Golf Digest archive.

But golf apps also market aggressively to bring in users and stand out among so many options. GolfLogix takes out full-length television ads and goes for players on and other sites. The company also is an affiliate partner for major golf brands, offering discounts on products and tee times. While GolfLogix app itself follows a freemium model, Lambrecht says the company gets a much higher than usual rate of upgrades, nearly half of users, by offering two full rounds of golf with all premium features and then ask users to pay $20 to subscribe to keep them.

With all these apps, the core technology, GPS, has been around for several decades. Companies like GolfLogix first made their bones on physical portable GPS devices. Ironically, that tech has come full circle through the rise of wearables—companies like which offer higher-end range solutions now have gone into wristwatches.

With golf’s governing bodies moving to add restrictions to the game like the recent decision to ban “belly putters,” Lambrecht doesn’t expect his app or its competition to appear in any regulation rounds of golf anytime soon. One obvious group who could use them, however, would be the caddies who fill their need. Johnson, for example, could see his caddie using GolfLogix during tournaments if they were allowed. (And maybe that would have helped this weekend--Johnson missed the cut.)

Until then, amateurs can use range apps as spectators when they watch nearby pros and as virtual caddies when working on their own game. That can mean speedier, more accurate rounds on the course. Just remember that you’ll also lose your excuse to be vague about the max range of your drives.